Richardson v. Sheriff of Middlesex County

This is an appeal from a judgment enjoining the defendant, the sheriff of Middlesex County, from continuing certain practices instituted as a result of overcrowding at the Middlesex County jail Gail). The sheriff claims error in the judge’s conclusion that conditions of confinement at the jail violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, and in the denial of his motion to compel joinder of additional defendants pursuant to Mass. R. Civ. P. 19, 365 Mass. 765 (1974). The plaintiffs, a class of pretrial detainees at the jail, cross appealed from the judgment and the denial of their motion to…